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Armageddon Cannon
"Political power grows from the barrel of a gun." :- Mao Zedong Tactical Analysis *'We will be generous': The largest land based mobile artillery piece ever constructed, the Armageddon Cannon will shatter any structure or destroy massive numbers of enemy vehicles with a single blast. It will just about eliminate everything unfortunate enough to be one of its targets. *'Behold, the bringer of light': However, in order to fire this monstrous weapon, the Armageddon Cannon must first deploy in order to stabilise the immense recoil of firing such a massive weapon. While deployed, it will unleash destruction on all, when on the move, it is helpless against enemy attacks. *'Careful, she's fragile': Formidable as they may be, Armageddon Cannons are at the mercy of aircraft. In addition, an inability to fire on the move, lack of armour, and a snail like speed all constitute weaknesses of the Armageddon. *'Brighter than the sun': Armageddon Cannon cults have occasionally gotten ahold of the lethal and incredibly powerful Type-41 Nuclear Fission Shells. These shells truly allow the Armageddon Cannon to live up to its namesake; however, limited stockpiles means the holy artifacts are only used in truly desperate times. Background Before the Bombs "We will be generous." :- Armageddon Cannon cult 'leader' To paint a picture of the waning days of the Chinese Civil War, all one must do is look at the Type-45 Self-Propelled Siege Cannon. It was a complete and utter drain on resources to produce, maintain, and transport. It required special munitions and placing at all times to function. One could have easily been replaced by over twenty smaller artillery systems, each one capable of spreading fire over a similar area range and being less expensive to use overall. It is perhaps the most horrendeously terrible and wasteful machine in the world, comparable to the Harbinger Gunship and the Giga Fortress. But, in the end, none of that mattered. What mattered was that the self-proclaimed Armageddon Cannon could kill a very large amount of people. The Siege Cannon was an end-game display of utter desperate power, the trump card in the Red Chinese's hand before the nukes came. From the very ground up, it was not truly a vehicle at all - it was a massive, 800mm cannon that just required treads to move it around. There is no subtlety in how it use, there is no pretense of any kind of science behind the most basic of artillery charting and gun maintenance - it does not use satellites from orbit, complex rocketry designs, wave-force energy, or even radioactive ray weapons. It is a giant gun, and where it hits, the ground and everything on it disappears. By 1969, a total of only twelve Armageddon Cannons had been built and put into the field, nearly half of those centred in the Bohai Sea Area. They were the final symbol of Red Chinese armoured might, and thousands would die to protect even one from being damaged or taken by the Blue Chinese. They were giants of warfare, and the earth trembled with every word they spoke. After the Bombs When there is no hope left in the world, when you are in a living hell in which no one is on your side, who do you put your trust in? Do you put them in far off gods who never stepped in to save your world from damnation? Do you put them in leaders and nations that are now nothing but dust and the vengeful spirits of the past? Many survivors of Red China did not. They put them in the last standing example of might and power, the last vestige of any kind of godhood in China - the Armageddon Cannons. For the Cannons still lived in the aftermath of the bombs, and they were found in time by survivors - survivors who, more often than not, had borne witness to the destruction it had caused. They are the cultists and servants of the Cannons now. They surround the Cannons and flock to them, offering their food, ammunition, stolen or found supplies as offerings to it, that it might aid them and bring their wrath against any who would threaten them. The technical details of the Cannons lost in the factories that made their parts, the Followers of the Cannon anoint the Cannon in ceremonial fragrant incense, scratch desperate prayers for salvation and life into the enormous barrel, hug and kiss the very ammunition they can still find as if they were their children to make them more accurate, and defend to the death any bandits or chiefdoms hoping to acquire one. These cults travel across China, their cause guided by proclaimed seers who listen intently to the roar and pitch of the cannon during times of rest, then interpret the directions and intentions meant. More than one of these groups has approached a Red Chinese Propaganda Centre, their leaders driven to seek them from the words supposedly spoken to them by the Cannon, and settled down in the immediate area. The Red Chinese military remnants dare not disturb the cultists and their trusted charges, but instead placate them as much in the hopes that, should they be called to battle, they may once more use the great Armageddon Cannons and bring death and ruin to all who oppose them. Behind the Scenes *If you haven't guessed already... it's the Nuke Cannon from Generals. It does however take a bit of inspiration from the real life Schwerer Gustav railway cannon from World War 2, especially in scale. Category:Units